1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in a construction of a body of motor vehicle, having a side door hinge mechanism utilizing quadric rotary link devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
In most cases, the side door in a motor vehicle, e.g. passenger car has heretofore been installed in a manner to be rotatable about a hinge affixed to a vehicle body for opening or closing. In order to allow an occupant of the motor vehicle to open or close the side door for getting in or out of the motor vehicle, a door opening angle commensurate to the total length of the side door is required. At this time, when a space outwardly of the motor vehicle is small, there are many cases where it is difficult for the occupant to get in or out of the vehicle because the side door cannot be opened sufficiently.
In contrast thereto, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 46014/1982 or 101263/1980 for example, there has been proposed a side door hinge mechanism through the utilization of a quadric rotary link mechanism, wherein the quadric rotary link mechanism comprises: a rotary link interconnecting a point on a body of vehicle and another point on a side door as rotary centers out of two points spaced apart from each other on the body and two points spaced apart from each other on the side door; another rotary link interconnecting the other point on the body and the other point on the side door as being centers; a portion between the two rotary centers on the body; and another portion between the two rotary centers on the side door.
The side door hinge mechanism utilizing the above-described quadric rotary link mechanism makes it possible for the occupant to reduce the necessary space outwardly of the motor vehicle while securing a space at his feet. In consequence, even when the space outwardly of the motor vehicle is small, the occupant can get in or out of the motor vehicle by opening or closing the side door.
In the motor vehicle mounted thereto with the above-described side door hinge mechanism utilizing the quadric rotary link devices, since the rocking locus of the side door is different from that of the conventional door hinge, such a disadvantage is presented that, with the conventional mounting mode, the weather strip for contacting the side door and the vehicle body to seal a space formed therebetween when the side door is fully closed cannot perform the sealing perfectly.
Furthermore, when the above-described side door hinge mechanism is interposed in a space formed between the end panel on the side of the rocking proximal end of the side door and the vehicle body, e.g. the front pillar, in order to secure the space, the position of the end panel in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body should be shifted rearwardly in the vehicle body from the center of the hinge as compared with the case of the conventional door hinge.
For this end, also the position of the forward end of the opening portion of the vehicle body should be shifted rearwardly in the vehicle body as compared with the case of the conventional opening portion, thus presenting the disadvantage of that the getting in and out properties of the vehicle for occupants are lowered.